Adobe announces end of Flash Player for Android

Adobe is shortly set to end support for Flash Player on mobile devices, and will no longer distribute Flash Player via the Google Play store.

Adobe has announced that from 15 August it will no longer install Flash on Android mobile devices via the Google Play Store.

This marks the end of Adobe Flash on Android mobile devices, and Adobe will not be supporting the upcoming 4.1 Jelly Bean version of Android.

Former Apple CEO Steve Jobs was famously dismissive of Flash and refused to allow the technology on the iOS platform. In 2010 he wrote a public letter outlining his thoughts on Flash and its problems with “reliability, security, and performance”. In particular he also cited problems with “battery life”.

“The Flash Player browser plugin integrates tightly with a device’s browser and multimedia subsystems (in ways that typical apps do not), and this necessitates integration by our device ecosystem partners. To ensure that the Flash Player provides the best possible experience for users, our partner program requires certification of each Flash Player implementation. Certification includes extensive testing to ensure web content works as expected, and that the Flash Player provides a good user experience. Certified devices typically include the Flash Player pre-loaded at the factory or as part of a system update.

Devices that don’t have the Flash Player provided by the manufacturer typically are uncertified, meaning the manufacturer has not completed the certification testing requirements. In many cases users of uncertified devices have been able to download the Flash Player from the Google Play Store, and in most cases it worked. However, with Android 4.1 this is no longer going to be the case, as we have not continued developing and testing Flash Player for this new version of Android and its available browser options. There will be no certified implementations of Flash Player for Android 4.1.”